Never Mind Black Friday; There’s Now an Entire Month of Deals

By

Emily Bary

Nov. 20, 2017 4:18 p.m. ET

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For better or for worse, Black Friday is losing some of its significance.

“Instead of Black Friday, we now have Black November,” says Steve Koenig of the Consumer Technology Association, an industry trade body. That means deals spanning the entire month. The good news is that consumers now have more online options if they want bargains, which means there’s less reason to camp out in a parking lot for doorbuster sales. The bad news, perhaps, is that there’s no escaping deal mania.

More from Barron’s Next

In a survey conducted prior to November, the CTA found more consumer intent to shop on Cyber Monday than on Black Friday, the first year that’s happened. The firm found the highest purchase intent for days after Cyber Monday, however, with 57% of shoppers saying that this was their plan.

“Consumers have this idea that if they wait a little bit longer, the deals will get that much sweeter,” Koenig says. He recently spoke with Barron’s Next about some of the key trends to look out for this holiday-shopping season.

Mobile dominance: Shoppers are becoming ever more comfortable making purchases on their smartphones, with mobile devices emerging as the most popular shopping vessels in the CTA survey. This plays into the themes of big data and targeting. “Smartphones are in the bulls-eye of all that,” Koenig says, with the ability to entice consumers to shop via push notifications, texts, and emails.

Speakers gaining legitimacy: “We’re seeing the beginning of a shift to voice as the fourth sales channel,” Koenig says, as consumers are increasingly saying that they plan to shop via a smart speaker or another voice-enabled device. And the firm expects more people to get on board soon enough, projecting that 4.4 million smart speakers will ship during the fourth quarter. That may make Apple even more regretful that it won’t be able to get its HomePod smart speaker out in time for the holidays.

What’s hot: “Anything with a screen,” says Koenig. “People can’t help themselves.” Here’s an area where physical stores still have an edge, as consumers tend to want to see big TVs before buying them. That’s something Amazon.com’s Alexa voice assistant can’t help them with. Also trendy: new kinds of “pet tech,” including GPS-enabled collars and automated feeding systems. And for humans, headphones ranked highly in terms of purchase intent.

What’s not: Koenig is seeing less purchase intent in the wearables category. That may not bode well for Fitbit, which is pinning its hope on a recently announced smartwatch, or Apple, which launched its new cellular-enabled Apple Watch in September.

Want a deal? The holidays are an especially good time to get a DSLR camera, Koenig says, with retailers offering attractive bundles that will get you memory cards, lenses, and a camera for less than you’d pay for all of these things individually.

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